Type slug



- 'Jan. 7, 1930. LE Roy w. WILLIS 1J4Z98I TYPE sum Filed Nov. 12. 19.28

INVENTQR.

ATTORNEY.

Patented Jan. 7, 1930 11mm STATES LE ROY W. WILLIS, OF BROOKLYN, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR TO INTERTYPE OOBPORA- PATENT OFFICE TION, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., A CORPORATION OF NEW YORK TYPE SLUG- Application filed November 12, 1928.

This invention relates to improvements in type cast in slug form similar to the ordinary slug or line of type produced in molds in the well known form of line-casting machines such as set forth in U. S. Letters Patent 436,532 granted Sept. 16, 1890 to O. Mergenthaler. In machines of this class the matrices are assembled in-a line and presented in front of a mold suitably arranged on a mold wheel to co-operate with the mouth of a metal pot containing molten type metal which, by means of pump action, is injected into the mold against the character faces of the matrices, after which the solidified slug is ejected from the mold and the matrices are disassembled and distributed back into their proper places in the matrix magazines.

The invention relates more particularly to improvements in the form of slugs cast in a special mold as described in U. S. Letters Patent 1,615,031 granted January 18, 1927, to J. C. Norwood, wherein one member of the mold is spreadable relatively to the cooperating mold member for the purpose of releas ing the cast slug from the mold while the latter is at the slug ejecting position in the machine. It further relates to anewand useful form of cored or recessed slug such as used at present for casting wide face characters for advertising and display printing. Such cored or recessed slugs have long been known and have the advantage of reducing the amount of type metal required and the weight of wide bodied slugs which, if cast in solid body, would withdraw from use an excessive amount of metal and would be unnecessarily heavy.

In certain classes of printing work, such as law briefs and legislative bills, it is the practice to space the printed lines in double or extra wide relation, and the type slugs used for such printing must be correspondingly spaced apart, line for line, or it sometimes becomes necessary to print only certain lines in double or wide spaced relation. Heretofore the usual manner of providing for this double or wider space between lines has been to use ordinary slugs bearing the printing characters cast upon them in the point size of type desired and then lead Serial No. 318,832.

out or space the individual type slugs apart by inserting blank slugs between them, the blank slugs corresponding in thickness to the space desired between the lines. This method, however, introduces the undesirable necessity of handling and storing large quantities of spacing leads, both in making up and dismantling the matter to be printed.

Another method is to cast. characters of the point size desired upon slugs of greater thickness than the height of the printing character but such slugs have heretofore been impractical to produce and therefore have not come into use. For example, if the body of the type slug is thicker than the height of the printing characters, the printing face of the slug would extend outward beyond the characters and in the same plane and the printing ink applied to the characters would also be spread on parts of the extended surface of the printing face of the slug and upon print-- ing therefrom smudges would appear upon the printed matter. Furthermore, the usual forms of molds now used will only permit the casting of slugs of slightly greater body thickness than the point size or height of the printing characters thereon when the usual form of two-letter matrices are employed, and the production of slugs to provide the de sired wider space between printed lines therefrom has therefore been limited and impractica til The principal object of the present invention is to produce. type slugs having a body thickness greater than the point size of the printing characters thereon for the purpose of causing the printed'matter therefrom to be spaced apart without the use of extraneous,

than the point size of the type characters thereon and wherein the enlarged body portion constitutes longitudinal or longitudinal and vertical ribs for supporting the slugs upright and in parallel wide spaced relation when locked up inthe usual printing frames.

A still further object is to produce slugs as set forth which may be cast in type Setting and line casting machines of the class hereinbe-fore referred to as they are usually constructed. a

Other objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following detailed description andthe claims together with the accompanying drawings which form a part of this specification and in Y which,

v the improved slugs;

' proved slug through one of the feet or extended base portions;

Fig. 4 is a perspectiveview showing a'number of the improved slugsbanked together, as in a printing frame, and showing ordinary single space slugs banked tog'ether with Fig. 5 is a diagrammatic view of the improvedslug showing the co-operative action of its ribs withthe mold in which it is cast; and i Fig.6 is another form of the improved slug in which the rib elements are of difierent form.

In the accompanying drawing disclosing the present invention, the improved slug is shown with longitudinal rib means integral with and on one side only of the slug body and cast in a mold with one movable member, in this case the mold cap, but it will be understood that the drawing represents only the preferred forms of'the improved slug and it will be apparent to those skilled inthe art that the number, extent, sizeand shape of the ribs may be varied as desired, and that the particular form and arrangement of the parts of the mold in which the slug is cast is not limited to the exact construction shown here or depicted in the Norwood patent hereinbefore referred to.

Refe'rrin to the drawings wherein like symbols refer to like or corresponding parts throughout, A, designates the casting cavit between the lower stationary base B and t upper movable cap C of the mold in which the slug is cast,-it being understood: that the mold'is mounted inone of thepockets of-the usual mold wheel used on line casting machines of the class to which this invention relates. M, represents a two letter matrix in position against the outer or front face of the mold so that one of the characters in its casting edge is presented in front of the mold cavity A. The mold cavity A is open at the back of the mold to receive the molten metal from the mouth D of the metal pot in the well known manner, further details of which are not pertinent to this invention, and are fully explained in the Mergenthaler patent hereinbefore referred to.

For the purpose of this invention, the mold cap C and the base B of the mold in which the improved slugs may be cast correspond with similar parts of the mold in the Norwood patent hereinbefore referred to except that in the present case the casting face of the cap of the mold is formed with a suitable number of longitudinally extending groove.- like recesses 0 and with relatively short recesses 0 adjacent to the rear face of the mold,

while the top surface b of the body of' the mold is substantially plain or flat, as in the usual slug casting mold. j g

In Figs. 2 and 3, 1 represents the character bearing edge or face of a type-high slug cast in a mold such as that shown and described. The body portion 2, is clearly shown in these figures as having a pair ofintegral ribs 3 on one side which are cast in the longitudinal groove-like recesses c in the under side .of the mold cap and which in Fig. 4 are. seen to extend longitudinally across the slug body. At 4, 3 are shown short extensions or feet which are cast in the recesses 0 in. the under side of the mold cap adjacent to the rear face of the mold and serve to give stability to individual slugs so that they will stand upright when delivered from the mold into the usual galley of the line casting machine and when handled in make-up in. printing frames, al-.

though the slug may be formed'without the feet 4 if desired, in which case the cross section of the lug at all points in its length would have the form shown in Fig.2. 1

The angular faces 5 of the ribs or projections on the slug are all. parallel to one another, and those on the'longitudinal. ribs 3 are of equal dimensions so that the narrow faces 6 of the ribs are parallel to the oppo site fiat faceof the slug and alined with one another so that theyv lie inthe same vertical plane. The extensions orfeet 4 are shown formed so that they extend a less distancefrom the body of the slug and fall back of the vertical plane of the faces 6 of the longitudinal ribs 3 although these feet 4 may ex.- tend outwardly to the plane of the surfaces 6 of the ribs 3 without in any way impairing; the utility of the slug.

The faces 6 of he longitudinal ribs .3.- are parallel to. the opposite or back. face of the. slug ;-bo,dy-an d as the-ribs 3 are cast integral.

with the slug body in the form of extensions or enlarged portions thereof, they cause the character bearing face of the slug to be offset in relation to the vertical center of the overall width of the slug. Fig. 4 shows the effect of this offsetting of the character face of the slug, a group of such slugs being shown arranged in a manner similar to that employed in assembling type slugs in a printing frame. The faces 6, as this figure shows, will bank or lock-up against the opposite or flat faces of each successive slug in the group, and the character or printing faces of the slugs will be spaced parallel but apart from one another. The feet 4 are shown set back sufiiciently from the plane of the faces 6 'to avoid their contacting with the flat face of the adjacent slug placed opposite thereto and hence these feet will not interfere with the positive and accurate lock-up of the slugs.

It will be evident that the angle at which the ribs 3 are projected from the slug body may be varied, and also the location and width of the faces 6 may be varied to give any desired enlargement of the body portion of the slugs and consequently to produce any desired width of space between the lines of matter printed from the slugs. It is advantageous however to locate the faces 6 rather well apart in the direction of the height of the slug in order that the pressure applied in the locking up of the slugs in printing frames will be distributed evenly at the top and bottom of each slug so that there will be no tendency of the assembled slugs to buckle, as would probably result if both of the ribs were located close together vertically.

Fig. 5 shows the mold cap C in different relative positions with respect to the mold base 13, the cap being shown in its lowered casting position by the full lines and in raised position by the dotted lines. Raising of the mold cap, after the type slug has been cast in the mold, is accomplished by forward movement of the slug as the result of the forward pressure exerted thereon by the usual ejector blade E which enters the mold cavity from the rear thereof. The parallel angular faces 5 of the longitudinal ribs 3 formed on the slug, which slope in a direction outwardly and toward the foot of the slug act as cams upon the correspondingly sloping or inclined angular faces 0 of the mold cap C which, at the ejecting position of the machine, is free or unlocked, and the cap is thus forced to spread or move in a transverse direction away from the mold base until it is separated there from for'a distance equal to the full body thickness of the slug or the distance from the flat back face of the slug to the faces 6 of the longitudinal ribs 3 during the ejection of the slug from the mold, the ribs 3 and feet 4 on the slug being thus enabled to clear the portions of the under face of the mold cap which intervene the recesses c and 0' thereon.

Since one side of the slug body is substantial- 1y flat and plain, theslug will be ejected in a truly edgewise direction, and it may be passed through the usual slug trimming knife as used on machines of this class to effect trimming of said fiat side of the slug body and thebanking faces 6 on the spacing ribs.

Fig. 6 shows a contemplated form of the rib portion of a type-high slug wherein the pair of longitudinal ribs 3 already described are replaced by a single longitudinal rib 30 the portion of which adjacent to the type bearing edge 1 is continuous or substantially so, and legs 31 extend downwardly from this rib to the base of the slug. The outer faces of the rib 3O andthe legs 31 are in the same plane and form banking faces which are parallel to the opposite flat face of the slug. The surface 32 of the rib 3O slopes downwardly away from the plane of the printing face 1 on the upper edge of the slug, and ribs of this construction maybe used without impairing their action in spacing the slug or looking it up against other slugs, or in assisting in the ejection of the slug from the mold in which it is cast.

From the foregoing, it will be seen that the longitudinally disposed ribs integral with the cast slug and formed angularly in relation to the plane of the character bearing edge thereof have distinct and new advantages. Type slugs of greater body thickness than the point size of the printing character can readily be produced so that the printed matter therefrom Will appear in any desired spaced relation without the use of extraneous slug spacing material, and the character hear ing edge of slugs can readily be restricted to the surface only as wide as the point size of the printing character thereon so that there is no chance for ink to spread and be transferred in a manner that will produce smudges in printing.

Obviously, it would be impractical to cast and eject slugs of theform described in molds of the usual construction wherein both cap and body members are rigidly fastened, and the invention therefore not only embodies a novel form of slug of great utility, but it provides a new and useful construction of longitudinal ribs for spacing apart and locking slugs together in proper relation for printing and for permitting spacing apart of slugs to be affected to a degree far beyond the limited possibilities with slugs of the usual known forms or slugs possible to produce in the usual molds now employed.

It is to be understood that the present invention contemplates a variety of uses of such slugs in printing and composing room work wherein it is further contemplated that the longitudinal ribs may serve a useful purpose on slugs for tabular or vertical rule composition, and this and other uses of slugs having such ribs are included by the invention, within the scope of the appended claims.

. I claim as my invention 1. A type slug comprising a body having a printing face on its upper edge, said body being substantially flat at one side and provided at its opposite side with a longitudinally extending spacing rib project-in laterally therefrom, said rib having a sur. ace which slopes downwardly and outwardly from the printing face. 7 v

2. A type slug comprising a. body having a printing face on its upper edge, said body being substantially fiat at one side and having formed integrally therewith and pro jecting from its opposite side longitudinally extending spacing ribs whichare spaced be tween the top and base of the body, said ribs having surfaces which are parallel and slope in a direction downwardly from the plane of the printing face, the sloping surface, of

the uppermost rib extending outwardly'from the printing face.

3. A type slug comprising a body having :1

- type face on its upper edge and having a substantially flat side, ribs extending longitudinally of and projecting laterally from the 019- posite sideof the body at different levels and formed at their outer edges with banking surfaces which are alined with each other and .parallel to the flatside of the body, and feet projecting laterally from the body adjacent to the base thereof, said ribs and feet having surfaces which are parallel to each other and slo e in a direction outwardly from the body an toward the base thereof. y

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand.

LE ROY W. WILLIS. 

